How to Test a Car Battery with a Multimeter

In this Steve's Garage video I show you a couple simple things you can do with a multimeter to test the health of your car battery and alternator.

I outline how to test 3 basic car battery details:
1. Resting charge or voltage - This is the reading you get with your car off. Your car battery should hold a base level charge.
2. Cranking voltage - This is the reading while you crank you engine. This value is especially important during the winter. The battery needs a lot of juice to crank the engine over in the cold. A weak battery is what will give you a slow or no crank condition.
3. Voltage with the car running - This value shows the health of your alternator more than anything else. The alternator should be charging your battery while your car is running.

These are very simple tests that can be done with any multimeter as long as it has a DC Volt option. These tests can be important when you're trying to diagnose a problem with your car battery or charging system. It can also be a helpful check to perform before winter hits to make sure your car battery is healthy, and you don't get caught with a dead battery.

If you'd like to purchase the multimeter I'm using in the video, check out my Amazon Affiliate link! It won't cost you any extra and I'll earn a small commission from your purchase

Klein Tools MM300 - https://amzn.to/49c6bZy

If you have any questions leave them below, I try to help everyone. As always, please be careful working on your car! Any damage to you or the car is not my responsibility.

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Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:14 - What You'll Need To Test Your Car Battery
0:30 - Visual Car Battery Check and Age
1:04 - How To Test Resting Voltage of a Car Battery
1:29 - How To Test Crank Voltage of a Car Battery
2:03 - How To Test if Alternator is Charging Car Battery
2:22 - Battery Load Testing
2:35 - Outro